The present invention relates to photonics chips and, more specifically, to structures that include an optical component, such as a grating coupler, and methods of fabricating a structure that includes an optical component, such as a grating coupler.
Photonics chips are used in many applications and systems including, but not limited to, data communication systems and data computation systems. A photonics chip integrates optical components, such as waveguides and bends, and electronic components, such as field-effect transistors, into a unified platform. Among other factors, layout area, cost, and operational overhead may be reduced by the integration of both types of components.
Grating couplers furnish the optical components commonly used as optical antennas in optical phased-array applications. Conventionally, the optical antennas in an optical phased-array are switched using Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) modulators. A disadvantage of this type of switching is that MZI modulators exhibit a weak electro-optic effect and, for that reason, have a large form factor that results in a large footprint.
Improved structures that include an optical component, such as a grating coupler, and methods of fabricating a structure that includes an optical component, such as a grating coupler, are needed.